NEW ZEALAND TOUR OF INDIA, 2017

Kohli throws weight behind Dhoni, the T20 batsman

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Dhoni is still contributing to the team in every way possible, according to Kohli.
Dhoni is still contributing to the team in every way possible, according to Kohli. © AFP

India captain Virat Kohli has thrown his weight behind MS Dhoni's position in T20 Internationals despite growing chatter around the keeper-batsman's supposed passing of his sell-by date as a batsman in the format. Kohli opined that it was unfair to single out Dhoni's innings for India's defeat in the Rajkot T20I, pointing out that even a more naturally-suited biffer like Hardik Pandya was unable to up the scoring rate in that chase of 197.

In Rajkot, Dhoni scored 49 off 37 at a strike-rate of 132.43 but his first 25 runs (in the partnership with Kohli) had come at a run-a-ball, taking the asking rate beyond 15. The former Indian captain struggled to hit the big shots against the spin of Mitchell Santner and appeared frustrated with his own inability to find the ropes even as Kohli kept the chase alive with a brisk half-century. Eventually, India finished 40 runs adrift of the target and were soundly beaten. In the game's aftermath, VVS Laxman, former India batsman and now member of the host broadcaster's analysis panel, went as far to suggest that Dhoni's position was untenable in the shortest format.

Kohli, however, opted to look at Dhoni as a complete package - of a lower-order batsman, keeper and a tactical leader - to strongly defend the former skipper's importance. "First, I don't understand why are people only pointing him out, I'm not able to understand this," Kohli said on Tuesday (November 7) after India clinched the deciding T20I in Thiruvananthapuram. "If I fail three times, no one is going to point fingers at me because I'm not over 35. The guy is fit, he is passing all the fitness tests, he is contributing to the team in every way possible, tactically on the field, with the bat. If you look at the series against Sri Lanka and Australia, he did really well and in this series he hasn't got much time to bat.

"You have to understand, the position in which he comes out to bat, even Hardik [Pandya] could not score in that game," Kohli said. "Then why are we only pointing out one man? Hardik also got out in the last T20 that we played in Rajkot. We are conveniently targeting only one man which is not fair. We also have to look at the fact that by the time he comes in, either the run rate is already eight-and-a-half or nine-and-a-half and the wicket is also not the same when the new ball is bowled.

"Also, the batsmen who are set from the top, they find it easier to strike the ball straightaway compared to the guys who come lower down the order. And the kind of wicket that we have played on, the wear and tear has been much more in the latter half. You have to assess everything."

India had picked Rishabh Pant to be Dhoni's understudy for the T20Is against England earlier in the year but the Delhi youngster's subsequent loss of form meant that spot of backup keeper went back to Dinesh Karthik. But the Tamil Nadu man, a stroke-player more comfortable slight up the order, wasn't considered for any of the three games against New Zealand. Kohli reassured that the team management was completely in support of Dhoni playing on in the format and that it wasn't perturbed by any noise to the contrary from the outside.

"As team management and players, we understand the situations in which he goes out to bat. We don't get emotional and excited by the opinions of people who are looking at things from a different point of view. If you are playing, you know how the wicket is and what the situation is like. So, I think Dhoni is doing absolutely fine. He understands his game, he understands his role, but it doesn't come off every time.

"He hit a six in Delhi and it was shown five times in the post-match show. Everyone got really happy. And suddenly he doesn't score in one game and we are after his life. I think people need to be a bit more patient. He's a guy who understands various cricketers. He's a very smart guy. He understands where he stands with his body, with his game. So I don't think anyone else has the right to decide that for him."

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